News

The largest biodiesel refinery in the US was put up for sale after the owner shut down the $70 million (€50 million) facility due to declining demand. GreenHunter Energy has plans to sell the Houston, Texas-based 105 Mgy plant by the end of the year in order to meet its $50 million financing obligations with a key lender. The plant, which only opened in June 2008, has been sitting idle since…
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Energy giant BP and cellulosic ethanol developer Verenium have been selected by the US Department of Energy (DoE) to enter the due diligence phase of its Title XVII Loan Guarantee Programme. The project is entitled to a loan guarantee from the DoE, which would support debt funding for first commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol plant, covering up to 80% of eligible costs. 'We believe this…
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US, Ohio-based Dayton Power and Light (DP&L) has issued a request for proposals to use biofuels at its generating stations. The company is stepping towards incorporating renewable energy resources into its services. DP&L has indicated its plans to purchase a maximum of 15,000 tonnes of biomass fuels by the end of 2009 and a maximum of 100,000 tonnes in the following five years, in…
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Cavendish Farms, a North American potato product producer, has finalised the construction of an anaerobic digestion facility that will generate biogas from potato waste. The project is a first for the potato industry. The new plant in Price Edward Island, Canada, will accompany the existing wastewater treatment facility, and will handle production rates of 120,000 tonnes per year. The plant…
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The US Department of Agriculture could offer US farmers greater financial incentives for developing cellulosic ethanol projects. The USDA announced it would guarantee $80 million (€57 million) in loans for the production of cellulosic ethanol. Increased biofuel production will be necessary as the industry works to comply with current national energy policy, which is drawn to wean consumers…
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Michigan, US-based Dow Chemical has backed Algenol Biofuels’ pioneering pilot-scale project to convert algae and carbon dioxide into ethanol fuel. The project will use Algenol's technology that calls for carbon dioxide and saltwater supplied to algae in photobioreactors to produce the biofuel. The project aims to create a breakthrough in ethanol production that does not use food…
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Sweden-based Chemrec has been granted SEK 500 million (€45 million) in funding from the Swedish Energy Agency’s Energy R&D Board to build an industrial scale renewable fuel plant. The plant will use biomass through gasification of black liquor. The planned location for the plant is the Domsjö biorefinery complex in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden. Production in the Chemrec plant is targeted…
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General Biodiesel Seattle has completed its acquisition of Imperium Renewables’ Seattle Biodiesel facility in Washington, US. General Biodiesel is converting the Seattle-based commercial biodiesel refinery to produce biodiesel from waste oils such as recycled cooking oil and animal fat, which the company collects from restaurants and food stores around the region. The acquisition of the plant…
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The Californian Water Resources Control Board has approved expanding the state’s limit for underground storage of biodiesel blends from the existing B5 limitation up to B20. This ruling builds on the ASTM specifications adopted late last year allowing the underground storage of the biodiesel B5 blend, from the previous law of no underground storage of any biodiesel blend. The 25-year-old…
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The German parliament’s upper house has vetoed government proposals to cut its biofuels blending target this year and further raise taxes on biofuels. The upper house, which represents the federal arm of the governments, has refused to accept a plan to cut the 2009 blending target to 5.25% biofuel content in fossil fuel from 6.25% originally intended. As members of the EU, the government are…
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Biofuels Manufacturers of Illinois has completed the first commercial harvest of a weed called pennycress. The plant once called ‘stinkweed’ is a member of the mustard family with seeds that contain 36%, twice as much as soyabeans. Officials from the company stated that they are interested in building a plant in Mapleton, Illinois, that would be able to produce 60 million gallons of…
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Sweden-based Chemrec’s development plant in Piteå, Sweden, has now reached 10,000 accumulated operating hours producing syngas from biomass to produce second generation green motor fuels. Chemrec's plant is the only gasification plant world-wide producing high-quality synthesis gas based on 100% renewable feedstock. The development plant, DP-1, has a capacity of 20 tonnes of solids a…
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The global potential for the biofuels market will reach up to $247 billion (€178 billion) in sales by 2020, indicates a study released by market researcher Pike Research. The forecast predicts the industry to ride the wave of current setbacks it faces to triple its predicted worth of $76 billion by 2010 in just ten years. Pike highlights that the biofuels industry’s growth is currently…
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